Profitable Farmer

When people succeed at the highest level, often all we see of them is their endeavour and their achievement.   We never really get to hear of the challenge, the hardship or the immense struggle that is behind the enduring success.   There can be so many lessons relevant to how, as farmers, we can better face the challenges that come our way and overcome adversity and change.   In this episode, I feel deeply privileged to interview Anna Meares – 11-time world champion and the greatest female track cyclist of all time.   Throughout Anna’s sporting career, she achieved:   2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze over four consecutive Olympics 11 gold, 10 silver, 6 bronze at World Championships 5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze at Commonwealth Games   Anna also has many titles including the Institute of Sport’s "Best Of The Best" inductee and is a Hall of Fame recipient, flag-bearer and Captain at our 2016 Olympic Games. She is now a 2024 Chef de Mission, coach, mentor and teacher to our current era of Olympian legends...   What imp

Throughout our lives, and often at this time of year, we can find ourselves reflecting and asking important questions like; Why am I here? What am I doing this for? What is it that is my purpose in life? What do I want for my life? How do I want to be remembered? Over my business journey, I have been lucky enough to study with and learn from one of the great business minds of our time, Marshall Thurber. In his teachings, Marshall emphasises that there are universal laws (laws of nature) that, when applied to our businesses and lives, can offer us so much certainty and confidence and set a robust foundation on which to see our results grow exponentially. In this episode, and in my attempt to answer these questions, I offer an insight into the Law of Precession - how we can apply it to our lives, how to set down major, definite goals, and make a more meaningful impact as leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs.   Linked with this, I share some lessons learned from one of my favourite books, “Think and Grow

As farm business owners, we can often be operating at intense and unsustainable levels for extended periods of time. Many times, the farm comes first, and so many other important things take the back seat.   Our farms can be under-resourced, our teams insufficient, our realities out of control and operations completely dependent upon us. Our plans are in our heads, marriages out of alignment - husbands, wives and families missing out on what life and family are truly meant to be about.   That is where Platinum Mastermind members Sam & Carla Armytage found themselves.   Let’s be very real for a minute: the pressures of owning and running a significant farm business can be immense. Even for the super-human, at times, this can all become too much.   In sharing their genuinely inspirational story, in their usual humble and understated ways, Sam & Carla explain where their life was at, consumed by the pressures of putting the farm first. They outline the very real impact this was having on their marriage a

As the finish line to another calendar year arrives, I cherish the opportunity to share the stories of some of our incredible community members - to celebrate their success in all they do as business owners and farmers.   Martin & Hayley Grosser own and operate MHG Farming Enterprises, a mixed sheep and dryland cropping operation at Kaniva in Victoria’s Western Wimmera. Their success in farming over the past 10 years, to say the least, is deeply impressive.     From a standing start to over 5,000 acres under management, Martin & Hayley have been stand-out members and incredible contributors to the Farm Owners Academy community.   In this interview, we share their story and reflect and celebrate:   the courage they have shown to scale in today’s climate successfully; their ability to back themselves and make bold growth decisions; the importance of strong financial acumen AND a positive money mindset; the value of benchmarking and regular farm performance analysis; the power of a concise strategic pla

We can survive 3 weeks without food...   3 days without water…   But only 3 minutes without breathing.   As for parenting, our body, mind and many other critical life functions, we have never been taught HOW TO BREATHE.   As a result, and over time, most of us are immensely inefficient with our breathing, leading us to a long list of health conditions that keep us from living our best lives.   In this episode, I speak with my wonderful wife, mother of four, high-performance physiotherapist, and now breathing re-training specialist, Jane Hutchings -  to explore the importance of LEARNING TO BREATHE WELL.   Anxiety, stress, depression, asthma, hay fever, insomnia, sleep apnoea, restless legs, snoring, excess sweating, brain fog, mental fatigue and burnout are just some of the conditions we face when we breathe poorly.   Rather than medication or physical interventions, focusing on learning to breathe properly can see all these health challenges vastly improved and even overcome for any or all of us.   With a 2

Leadership is about giving those around you certainty.    Making strong predictions based on quality information and taking proactive action in tough times is a hallmark of strong leadership.   Many Aussie farmers have experienced a marked drop in meat prices in recent months, impacting their realities and outlook significantly.   As in Episode 121 with Grain & Oilseeds Lead Analyst - Stefan Vogel, I once again call on the elite Rabobank Research team and Senior Analyst – Animal Proteins Angus Gidley-Baird to help us understand what has happened and what to expect in the red meat markets in the near to medium term.   In addition, I call on the experience of Farm Owners Academy Co-founder and Director Greg Johnsson to offer his insights on this important topic and some guidance on where we need to focus as farmers to best navigate this period in our industry strongly and strategically.   In this episode, Angus, Greg & I explore:   what has happened; why it has happened; recent supply chain dynamics; co

At Farm Owners Academy, we are big believers that our mental well-being is closely linked to our physical health AND positive social interactions.    I am delighted to interview Active Farmer Founder and Director Ginny Stevens in this episode. Over eight years, Active Farmers has grown from an idea and one weekly fitness class in Mangoplah, NSW, to a significant and important national charity supporting thousands of farmers' physical health and mental well-being across 65 rural communities.    It is an incredible story, and one Ginny Stevens, her family, and her team can feel immensely proud of.    Now, with a team of 40 fitness trainers, an operational unit of 6 supported by a compelling board and a long list of sponsors and partners, Active Farmers is poised for its next growth step and the opportunity to make an even greater impact on the resilience of our great industry.    In this episode, I ask Ginny to share her back story and offer an insight into the Active Farmers journey.    For me, it is a healthy

One of the best bits about being part of Farm Owners Academy is the life-long friendships we see being fostered across our incredible and growing community.   One of the greatest privileges of being a Coach is supporting great people to make meaningful and lasting changes in their personal and business development journeys.   Our members achieve huge amounts in their 3-year Platinum Mastermind journey. Sure, their business profitability grows, their farms expand, their families become more aligned, and they set up teams and more professionally lead their farms.   But what inspires me the most is seeing the personal growth that so many individual members achieve and how this can completely change their lives.   In this episode, I am pleased to introduce you to Peter Moloney, one of our recent Platinum Mastermind graduates. Peter, his wife Kate and their 3 young men own and operate a 50,000 acre property and successful beef operation at Auguthella, north of Charleville in Western Queensland.   In this episode,

Often, it is my observation that succession is made to be a bigger and more complex issue than it needs to be.   Often, in my opinion, good business practice applied to family business can be the key to aligning a family to a common goal and plan; creating meaningful, regular and proactive communications; providing financial clarity and control for all parties; delivering structures and systems to support all team members in their roles; and helping ensure all expectations relating to succession are understood and clear.   Let me be clear, I am not saying succession is easy. What I am saying, is that the timely and proactive application of good business practices have proven to help farm business families be more effective, and then make succession a more palatable and constructive process.   Four weeks ago I was asked to be part of the Annual Poojinook Client Field Day, and be interviewed alongside succession specialist Isobel Knight, Proagtive on the topic of Business & Succession, by interviewer and jo

Farmers can be a humble bunch, perhaps in part a function of a certain ‘tall poppy syndrome’ that exists across our landscape. As a result, as well as the fact that most of us are production-focused and not necessarily marketing-trained, we are not always great at telling our unique stories or promoting our own business ‘brand.’   Taking this further, globally, there seems to be an ever-increasing gap and misunderstanding between the food consumer and the farmer producer.   Simply, there are so many great Australian agricultural stories that need to be shared and so many good things happening in our industry that our food-consuming society needs to hear, understand, and appreciate.   Farmers, if we don’t tell our story, someone else will be…   In this episode, I am pleased to spend time with the Founder of Humans of Agriculture, Oli Le Lievre. Oli & his team are dedicated to bridging this gap and walking alongside people in our industry to help them uncover and share their unique stories.   Personally, I

We find ourselves in an economic environment very different to 12 months ago - now characterised by high inflation, rising interest rates and an uplift in unemployment in most of our trading nations across the globe.    On the back of a compelling quarterly economic review to our Members, I have invited Terry Tran – Freedom Trader – to join me again to make sense of it all. To give us a no BS take on what is happening in our world, what it means, how to play (as an investor), and to understand where the opportunities (in the investment landscape) lay.    Terry now predicts a high chance of global recession, resulting from a marked economic slowdown in the USA, Europe and China. This requires us all to think deeply about our business models and our approach to business and investing in the years to come.    Overnight the US has seen a credit downgrade - it’s first since 2011 following a close call on a debt ceiling default. This follows its 11th consecutive rate rise since March 2022 to a 22-year high, forcing

What does moving from a ‘start-up’ to ‘significance’ as an entrepreneur take? Let’s find out. In this episode, I am delighted to reconnect with my past business coaching client, now successful entrepreneur Steven Mirtschin. Leaving a successful banking career to back himself in business, Steven now leads over 13 businesses and a team of over 150. Over 15 years, Steven has successfully scaled a combination of franchise-based businesses in the fitness and hospitality sectors. He has sought out team members and others to partner with, created immense opportunities for those within his team, established a small business empire that delivers first-class service to those he serves, and proven results for all involved. There are so many insights to come from this discussion. For me, Steven shows us that successfully scaling up in business requires: a shift in mindset from an operator to manager and strong leader; a long-term commitment to a clear and compelling vision; constant adaptation to your business model

You don’t achieve greatness without first being a very special individual.   In this episode, I am pleased to introduce to you Aussie sporting icon Trevor Hendy, renowned as the greatest ironman on earth.   A former professional athlete having won six Australian Open Ironman titles and four consecutive World Ironman titles, Trevor has become a coach, role model, teacher and mentor to sporting and business elite across Australia and worldwide.   Now a member of the Order of Australia and an inductee into the World Surf Life Saving, Australian Life Saving and Australian Sporting Halls of Fame, Trevor has become as revered as much for the impact he has made to helping people live their best life, as he has as a sporting great.   What I love about Trevor is his openness and his willingness to share his experiences, his successes and challenges, in his heart-filled intention to selflessly serve others and teach those he connects with how to find calmness, contentment, presence, fulfilment and joy in our lives.   I

We all now know that safety on-farm is an important issue. We also know that most farm businesses have more to do in this area, and it is pleasing to see so many farming families prioritising farm safety as a core part of the business improvement strategies.   SafeAg System is presently leading the way in helping farming families create safer and more professional workplaces; their App & offering are now in place on over 15,000 farms in Australia and overseas.   What I like most about SafeAg Systems is that their solution also helps farm teams operate more effectively AND be safer. Their platform caters for machinery maintenance scheduling, inventory management, human resource management, contractor management, on-farm communications and systems improvement, AS WELL AS safety practices. This App solves a real business management and HR problem for farming businesses, large and small… almost as if a safer farm becomes the outcome.   For more information, click here: www.safeagsystems.com   In this episode,

I have always been intrigued by Rabobank as a business.   A 120-year-old Dutch cooperative founded by farmers for farmers, now a global sensation specialising in agribusiness lending from over 1,000 offices across 38 countries, serving over 9 million customers... I think their Australasian Team are to be commended on the passion, dedication and quality support they provide to farming families across our region.   Just as interesting is the fact that their global research team spans over 140 leading analysts… all focused on finance and agri-markets… imagine the intelligence and insights available on navigating our local and international trading landscape!   In this episode, I am pleased to welcome Stefan Vogel, General Manager – RaboResearch, Australia & New Zealand, to our podcast.   I knew this would be a compelling conversation… but Stefan’s commentary and global perspective completely exceeded my expectation in so many ways.   Thank you, Stefan, for your openness and your insight as we explore:   glob

For many, the last few years have been unique and positive – resulting from low inflation, low-interest rates, above-average commodity prices and above-average production.   Now, our current reality is very different.   We will likely see an extended period of increased inflation, increasing interest rates and softening commodity prices. In addition, from a production standpoint, there is talk of El Nino weather patterns ahead…   The question we should ALL be asking is: Can my farm business model handle this new reality?   In this episode, I call on the “Brains Trust”, inviting Farm Owners Academy Co-Founder Greg Johnsson and Executive Director at RLS Agribusiness Jeff McDonald to join me to explore this question in detail.   We discuss the importance of:   knowing your numbers; presenting proactively to your bank; developing a compelling economic model for your farm; stress-testing your farming system based on long-term average yield & prices; knowing your ‘new’ cost of production; and being financially

At Farm Owners Academy, we help farming families create FREEDOM FARMS – that is a highly profitable business with the systems, structures, team AND performance to be able to work without dependence on you! As a team, we feel proud of the results that hundreds of farming families are achieving in their pursuit of this reality. Over the coming months, I will share some of these outstanding stories with you.   In this episode, I speak with Marina Gregor, who, along with her husband Brett, run a high-performing wool sheep enterprise ‘Willandra’ on Kangaroo Island, about their journey to create a FREEDOM FARM. We explore the wins, challenges and numerous changes they have made along the way as well as how the FOA Community & Team have helped them. We also explore how benchmarking, budgeting, a shift in mindset and business coaching have helped them drive the performance of their farm and build out their business and on-farm team.   Eight years ago, Marina and Brett set down a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHA

In life, we have the opportunity to meet some remarkable people. Those individuals are often quietly determined to serve others and make a meaningful impact.   I met Mike Stephens, Founder & Chairman of Meridian Agriculture, as an overly enthusiastic and bullish 25-year-old. I have regarded him as a role model and mentor ever since.   One of Australian agriculture’s truly great personalities, Mike has dedicated his career to farmers, to families getting on and to effective farm succession. Two and a half years ago, he completed the largest piece of research into farm succession globally. The insights from this are significant, and Mike shares some of them with us in this interview.   Combined with this is Mike’s incredible ability to communicate and facilitate. As others committed to helping with succession, the depth and accuracy of the questions he asks of individuals and families and the process he takes you through to optimise a succession outcome for you is deeply impressive.   Mike and his team at M

So many farming families I meet feel completely REACTIVE in managing their farms. On so many levels, we often are left feeling like the business is running you, not you it. With all that is going on in a typical week, the long list of improvements to make, the complexities of programs and rotations, the changes of the season… for me, it is easy to see why so many arrive here.   One of my favourite quotes is from global personal performance expert Brian Tracy:   “We feel good about ourselves to the exact degree we feel in control of our lives.”   Three questions for you:  Are you feeling reactive or proactive in your leadership? Out of 10, how much control do you feel you have over the improvement of your plan? Out of 10, how aligned are your family & team to a common goal and clear plan? In this episode, I speak with Farm Owners Academy CEO Sam Johnsson. Sam commenced with us two years ago, following a highly successful corporate leadership career in a large design & engineering consultancy.   In thi

  Technology can be pretty incredible. With its exponential advancement, there is no doubt we are on the cusp of unprecedented change on-farm and across our industry.   Our game is rapidly changing, allowing us to achieve much more with much less.   For me, our future is very exciting. In this episode, I invite you to join me and an audience of 350 progressive, growth-oriented and passionate farmers at one of our Deep Dive conferences (usually exclusively for our Platinum Mastermind members).   In this, Matthew Prior (Managing Partner – Tenacious Ventures) and I interview the impressive CEO and Founder of SwarmFarm Robotics – Andrew Bate. Based on-farm near Emerald in Queensland, Andrew and his family run a highly efficient, large-scale broad-acre cropping operation. In 2012, as a ‘side-hustle’ to their farm, SwarmFarm Robotics was created. Now, some 13 years later, this incredible Ag Tech business employs over 25 staff and is firmly placed as one of the pioneers and world leaders in Autonomous Vehicle